Washington, D.C. — In a press conference this morning and on the House floor this afternoon, Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-San Bernardino) stood up to House Republican efforts to include $1.6 billion to fund President Donald Trump’s border wall between the United States and Mexico in a spending bill that is intended to support veterans, American troops and defense priorities for the fiscal year. The construction of a border wall was a campaign promise of then-candidate Trump, who said he would make Mexico pay for it.

“The bill we’re talking about today should be about providing critical funds to keep our service members safe, take care of our veterans and to support necessary defense programs; it should not be about helping President Trump keep a campaign promise that has no grounding in reality,” said Rep. Aguilar. He continued, “Rather than come to the table and work on meaningful, bipartisan and long-term solutions to fix our broken immigration system, House Republicans would rather give American families’ paychecks to President Trump so he can build his wall. We are here to do the people’s work. Building this wall doesn’t do the people’s work – it soothes the president’s ego at the expense of American families.”

Rep. Aguilar participated in a press conference with Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer and members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) earlier this morning to urge his colleagues to oppose legislation that includes the dangerous policy rider that would force Inland Empire families to pay for a border wall with Mexico. Rep. Aguilar is the Whip of the CHC. He also serves on the House Appropriations Committee, the House committee tasked with appropriating funds and spending for the federal government. The press conference was streamed on Facebook Live and can be viewed in full on Rep. Aguilar’s Facebook page:www.facebook.com/reppeteaguilar/